| 释义 |
lowbrow, low-brow, n. and a. colloq. (orig. U.S.).|ˈləʊbraʊ|
[f. low a. 1, in contrast with highbrow, high-brow n. and a.]
A. n. One who is not, or does not claim to be, highly intellectual or æsthetically refined.
1906S. Ford Shorty McCabe iii. 64 The spaghetti works was in full blast, with a lot of husky low-brows goin' in and out. 1907Collier's 30 Mar. 23/2 The overwhelming majority of Low Brows, who never read ‘Peer Gynt’. 1914‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 15 Low brow, an uneducated person usually prone to exhibit his deficiencies. 1915E. Wallace Melody of Death ii. 20 If you only knew how the low-brows are pitying you..you would not be posing for a picture of ‘The Ruined Gambler’. 1926Glasgow Herald 13 Mar. 4 The highbrows will be overwhelmed..: the lowbrows will be unmoved. 1927,1929[see broad-brow, broadbrow s.v. broad a. D. 2]. 1935Discovery Sept. 281/1 If we can persuade the lowbrows and free-livers of the present day that there is something heroic, even sporting, in the cultivation of the higher regions of the mind, we shall have won more than half the battle. 1947[see classical a. 6 c]. 1953[see Aunt Edna (aunt 6)]. 1974Times 30 Nov. 8/2 They considered themselves lowbrows and..preferred a rattling good yarn to all that highbrow twaddle.
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a lowbrow; not highly, or not pretentiously, intellectual; unrefined, unæsthetic. Also quasi-advb.
1913H. A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 i. 28 With all its excellences it would be unjust to complain that the Zone ‘Y.M.’ is a trifle ‘low-brow’ in its taste. 1914S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn v. 61 You ain't neither too highbrow or too lowbrow. 1923Spectator 22 Sept. 391/2 Often the sole reason why he [sc. the man of genius] does not write ‘low⁓brow’ is because he cannot. 1928Collier's 10 Nov. 30/1 The doctor who is sufficiently adventurous, or lowbrow, to visit a soda-fountain occasionally. 1934S. R. Nelson All about Jazz i. 24 From the many attempts of our leaders to substitute..‘symphonic syncopation’, ‘modern rhythm’, and the like, it is obvious that the much-maligned and obvious ‘low-brow’ caste of the word has rendered it necessary for us to designate our music with something that is emphatically not—jazz! 1963[see highbrow, high-brow B. adj.]. 1974Country Life 9 May 1126/2 Another enormous price was the {pstlg}22,000 paid..for a mid-18th-century print of an actor by Toyonobu;..but, as all the subjects of such prints..seem to me to represent deplorably ham actors, I remain wholly unimpressed. Now I come to think of it, what a low-brow criticism.
absol.1927Daily Express 7 May 9/6 Our aim will be..to steer a course between the ‘highbrow’ and the ‘low⁓brow’ in music.
So ˈlowbrowism, the condition of being low-brow; lack of interest in intellectual or æsthetic matters.
1931A. Huxley Music at Night 222 The snobbery of culture..has now to wrestle with an organized and active low-browism. 1946Amer. Speech XXI. 121 The Australian dislike of elegance and affectation leads to a general ‘low-browism’ of expression and a careless enunciation. 1957R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy x. 255 At a time when it is so easy to be led into arrogant low-browism, some retain an idealistic love for ‘things of the mind’. 1971Listener 2 Dec. 763/3, I am not at all arguing for a populist lowbrowism. |